A New Algorithmic Identity

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 164-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cheney-Lippold

Marketing and web analytic companies have implemented sophisticated algorithms to observe, analyze, and identify users through large surveillance networks online. These computer algorithms have the capacity to infer categories of identity upon users based largely on their web-surfing habits. In this article I will first discuss the conceptual and theoretical work around code, outlining its use in an analysis of online categorization practices. The article will then approach the function of code at the level of the category, arguing that an analysis of coded computer algorithms enables a supplement to Foucauldian thinking around biopolitics and biopower, of what I call soft biopower and soft biopolitics. These new conceptual devices allow us to better understand the workings of biopower at the level of the category, of using computer code, statistics and surveillance to construct categories within populations according to users’ surveilled internet history. Finally, the article will think through the nuanced ways that algorithmic inference works as a mode of control, of processes of identification that structure and regulate our lives online within the context of online marketing and algorithmic categorization.

Author(s):  
Xiaoni Zhang ◽  
Margaret Myers

Computers and the Internet are now pervasive and essential parts of our lives: we use them at work and at home to gather information, for entertainment, and, increasingly, to do business. The Internet allows people to chat with others from all over the world, to follow the news from every continent, and conveniently to shop online at home or at the office. This book chapter covers two important and related concepts: Web design and e-commerce. The section on Web design starts with the overall picture of the Internet, history, Web authoring tools, design rules as well as introducing some research findings on Web design. E-commerce is introduced with definitions, technological acceptance model, online payment methods, online marketing and future developments.


2011 ◽  
pp. 271-285
Author(s):  
Xiaoni Zhang ◽  
Margaret Myers

Computers and the Internet are now pervasive and essential parts of our lives: we use them at work and at home to gather information, for entertainment, and, increasingly, to do business. The Internet allows people to chat with others from all over the world, to follow the news from every continent, and conveniently to shop online at home or at the office. This book chapter covers two important and related concepts: Web design and e-commerce. The section on Web design starts with the overall picture of the Internet, history, Web authoring tools, design rules as well as introducing some research findings on Web design. E-commerce is introduced with definitions, technological acceptance model, online payment methods, online marketing and future developments.


1989 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 221-228
Author(s):  
Norbert Langer

The so called Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) form a rather heterogeneous class of very active, luminous (and therefore massive) stars (c.f. R.M. Humphreys, this volume). The following two points are the aim of theoretical work concerning these objects: 1. to know their internal structure from the center up to the atmosphere, i.e. to find out the place of these objects in the course of thermonuclear evolution, or to identify the physical processes which are responsible for the different types of mass loss phenomena, and 2. to conclude which were their preceding evolutionary phases, and to predict their future evolution, i.e. to identify LBV progenitors and descendants, derive their ages, and so on. The basic tool of the theorists is a stellar evolution computer code, which allows to perform evolutionary computations (including different assumptions, which are necessary since several physical ingredients cannot yet be treated from first principles), leading stellar tracks through the part of the HR diagram where LBVs are found. But in this context we meet already a basic problem: in a certain small area of the HR diagram (which may correspond e.g. to some kind of error box) stars of several different types may be identified by the observers, each type may be even devided into several subtypes. Therefore, the correlation of computer models and observed stars is often very difficult or impossible. The various types of stars are mainly classified by spectroscopic criteria, while important “theoretical quantities” as stellar masses or the chemical composition are hard to derive from observations.


Lex Russica ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
S. S. Zenin ◽  
D. L. Kuteynikov ◽  
O. A. Izhaev ◽  
I. M. Yapryntsev

The paper is devoted to the study of law and computer algorithms as tools regulating social and technical processes. The purpose of this work is to study the possibilities of using computer code to regulate public relations, as well as the impact of this process on traditional legislative procedures.The paper puts forward the thesis that computer code regulating technical processes can be used to a certain extent in the legal sphere of activity. To use computer code in law making, it is necessary to define the scope of legal regulation, develop an appropriate programming language and adopt a system of internal and external code audit measures that will ensure transparency, legality of the code and, as a result, public confidence in the adopted normative legal acts.One example is smart contracts used in certain areas. The authors have studied various approaches to the definition of the term "smart contract" and formulated an integrative definition of this concept. When using a smart contract in the legal sphere, this term should be understood as a legally binding contract drawn up in the form of computer code and supported by appropriate legal remedies.In this paper, the authors investigate the possible consequences of using computer code in law making and propose a number of additional measures (requirements) to the procedure for adopting regulatory legal acts. The authors summarize that law is to a certain extent an algorithm, which means that the same methods can be used to regulate public relations that are used in the technical sphere to fix the sequence of various operations. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-522
Author(s):  
Rik Peeters

With the rise of computer algorithms in administrative decision-making, concerns are voiced about their lack of transparency and discretionary space for human decision-makers. However, calls to ‘keep humans in the loop’ may be moot points if we fail to understand how algorithms impact human decision-making and how algorithmic design impacts the practical possibilities for transparency and human discretion. Through a review of recent academic literature, three algorithmic design variables that determine the preconditions for human transparency and discretion and four main sources of variation in ‘human-algorithm interaction’ are identified. The article makes two contributions. First, the existing evidence is analysed and organized to demonstrate that, by working upon behavioural mechanisms of decision-making, the agency of algorithms extends beyond their computer code and can profoundly impact human behaviour and decision-making. Second, a research agenda for studying how computer algorithms affect administrative decision-making is proposed.


1999 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 185-188
Author(s):  
Gy. Szabó ◽  
K. Sárneczky ◽  
L.L. Kiss

AbstractA widely used tool in studying quasi-monoperiodic processes is the O–C diagram. This paper deals with the application of this diagram in minor planet studies. The main difference between our approach and the classical O–C diagram is that we transform the epoch (=time) dependence into the geocentric longitude domain. We outline a rotation modelling using this modified O–C and illustrate the abilities with detailed error analysis. The primary assumption, that the monotonity and the shape of this diagram is (almost) independent of the geometry of the asteroids is discussed and tested. The monotonity enables an unambiguous distinction between the prograde and retrograde rotation, thus the four-fold (or in some cases the two-fold) ambiguities can be avoided. This turned out to be the main advantage of the O–C examination. As an extension to the theoretical work, we present some preliminary results on 1727 Mette based on new CCD observations.


1976 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 233-254
Author(s):  
H. M. Maitzen

Ap stars are peculiar in many aspects. During this century astronomers have been trying to collect data about these and have found a confusing variety of peculiar behaviour even from star to star that Struve stated in 1942 that at least we know that these phenomena are not supernatural. A real push to start deeper theoretical work on Ap stars was given by an additional observational evidence, namely the discovery of magnetic fields on these stars by Babcock (1947). This originated the concept that magnetic fields are the cause for spectroscopic and photometric peculiarities. Great leaps for the astronomical mankind were the Oblique Rotator model by Stibbs (1950) and Deutsch (1954), which by the way provided mathematical tools for the later handling pulsar geometries, anti the discovery of phase coincidence of the extrema of magnetic field, spectrum and photometric variations (e.g. Jarzebowski, 1960).


Author(s):  
W.A. Carrington ◽  
F.S. Fay ◽  
K.E. Fogarty ◽  
L. Lifshitz

Advances in digital imaging microscopy and in the synthesis of fluorescent dyes allow the determination of 3D distribution of specific proteins, ions, GNA or DNA in single living cells. Effective use of this technology requires a combination of optical and computer hardware and software for image restoration, feature extraction and computer graphics.The digital imaging microscope consists of a conventional epifluorescence microscope with computer controlled focus, excitation and emission wavelength and duration of excitation. Images are recorded with a cooled (-80°C) CCD. 3D images are obtained as a series of optical sections at .25 - .5 μm intervals.A conventional microscope has substantial blurring along its optical axis. Out of focus contributions to a single optical section cause low contrast and flare; details are poorly resolved along the optical axis. We have developed new computer algorithms for reversing these distortions. These image restoration techniques and scanning confocal microscopes yield significantly better images; the results from the two are comparable.


Author(s):  
Vinayak P. Dravid ◽  
V. Ravikumar ◽  
Richard Plass

With the advent of coherent electron sources with cold field emission guns (cFEGs), it has become possible to utilize the coherent interference phenomenon and perform “practical” electron holography. Historically, holography was envisioned to extent the resolution limit by compensating coherent aberrations. Indeed such work has been done with reasonable success in a few laboratories around the world. However, it is the ability of electron holography to map electrical and magnetic fields which has caught considerable attention of materials science community.There has been considerable theoretical work on formation of space charge on surfaces and internal interfaces. In particular, formation and nature of space charge have important implications for the performance of numerous electroceramics which derive their useful properties from electrically active grain boundaries. Bonnell and coworkers, in their elegant STM experiments provided the direct evidence for GB space charge and its sign, while Chiang et al. used the indirect but powerful technique of x-ray microchemical profiling across GBs to infer the nature of space charge.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-249
Author(s):  
Ronja Weiblen ◽  
Melanie Jonas ◽  
Sören Krach ◽  
Ulrike M. Krämer

Abstract. Research on the neural mechanisms underlying Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) has mostly concentrated on abnormalities in basal ganglia circuits. Recent alternative accounts, however, focused more on social and affective aspects. Individuals with GTS show peculiarities in their social and affective domain, including echophenomena, coprolalia, and nonobscene socially inappropriate behavior. This article reviews the experimental and theoretical work done on the social symptoms of GTS. We discuss the role of different social cognitive and affective functions and associated brain networks, namely, the social-decision-making system, theory-of-mind functions, and the so-called “mirror-neuron” system. Although GTS affects social interactions in many ways, and although the syndrome includes aberrant social behavior, the underlying cognitive, affective, and neural processes remain to be investigated.


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